2011 F1 season

Red Bull’s mechanics are as fast in the pits as the RB7 is on the track.

They’ve been the quickest team in the pits in six of the eleven races so far this year.

Pit stops were a weakness in Ferrari’s game earlier this year but they’ve made major gains in recent races.

Fastest pit stop times at each race

This chart shows the fastest pit stop time (in seconds) for each team in every race so far. Use the controls below to show or hide different teams:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011teamcolours.csv

Australia

Malaysia

China

Turkey

Spain

Monaco

Canada

Europe

Britain

Germany

Hungary

Red Bull

22.52

21.893

21.091

20.112

19.887

26.269

22.402

20.319

23.137

20.11

19.664

McLaren

22.681

22.4

20.533

20.833

19.761

24.67

23.589

20.212

23.292

20.403

20.046

Ferrari

23.251

22.541

21.168

21.308

20.238

25.352

22.56

20.136

23.238

19.975

19.936

Mercedes

23.716

22.227

20.522

20.308

19.534

25.116

22.702

20.896

24.399

19.93

19.939

Renault

22.994

22.602

21.821

20.872

20.796

25.851

23.113

21.105

24.172

20.572

21.353

Williams

23.643

24.502

21.481

21.687

20.637

25.675

23.059

21.163

23.869

21.057

20.58

Force India

23.871

22.046

20.989

20.775

20.07

24.97

22.479

20.286

24.077

20.839

20.589

Sauber

23.438

23.28

21.473

21.715

20.5

28.642

23.687

20.545

25.386

20.882

20.57

Toro Rosso

23.1

22.888

21.928

21.769

20.741

25.045

23.338

20.46

24.095

20.954

20.36

Lotus

24.848

23.336

21.89

21.633

20.807

25.595

23.332

21.126

21.175

20.99

HRT

26.554

23.499

24.474

23.157

28.298

27.202

22.235

25.505

22.048

22.458

Virgin

23.792

24.416

21.908

22.779

21.17

26.464

24.143

21.9

24.959

20.762

20.613

Nico Rosberg heads for his pit crew

Red Bull were the quickest team in the pits in the first race of the year and in the last race at Hungary – as well as four of the races in between.

As last year’s world championship leaders they have the advantage of being situated at either end of their pits, which often gives their drivers a straighter run into or out of their pit box.

But this advantage isn’t worth as much as a slick pit stop procedure and a well-drilled team. Mercedes enjoyed the same benefit in 2010 but have remained one of the quickest crews despite losing it this year.

Ferrari have concentrated on their pit stops in recent races and it shows. They were never better than fifth-fastest in the first six races. Since then, they’ve never been out of the top three.

How quick the teams are at turning around pit stops matches their on-track performance very closely. But there are a few significant exceptions.

Force India have been consistently quick in the pits

The first is Mercedes, who did the fastest pit stop times in three races this year: China, Spain and Germany.

Force India are another. From the Malaysian to the European Grand Prix they were consistently among the top four fastest pit stop times.

However HRT are lagging well behind even their closest on-track rivals. While Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Riciardo may entertain hopes of racing the Virgins on Sundays, losing up to two seconds on every pit visit is not going to help their cause.

Average pit stop times at each race

This chart shows the average pit stop time for all of a driver’s pit stops (in seconds) in each race. Use the controls below to show or hide different drivers:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

Australia

Malaysia

China

Turkey

Spain

Monaco

Canada

Europe

Britain

Germany

Hungary

Sebastian Vettel

23.32

22.408

21.764

20.402

20.215

28.536

23.119

20.593

26.504

20.259

20.322

Mark Webber

24.059

22.198

21.888

21.1

20.306

30.091

24.906

20.384

24.416

20.688

20.673

Lewis Hamilton

23.213

23.253

20.659

24.909

20.364

28.466

20.529

24.168

20.627

21.205

Jenson Button

22.992

22.451

21.925

21.808

20.295

25.26

25.313

20.6

24.216

20.952

20.966

Fernando Alonso

24.055

24.51

21.888

21.53

20.481

29.372

25.457

20.721

24.671

20.147

21.539

Felipe Massa

24.146

24.886

21.396

23.375

21.618

26.615

24.634

22.22

23.775

20.811

21.76

Michael Schumacher

24.505

22.355

21.295

23.016

20.341

35.084

23.592

24.345

27.447

20.332

21.01

Nico Rosberg

23.716

23.357

21.165

21.189

20.192

25.183

22.882

21.832

24.561

20.457

21.128

Nick Heidfeld

24.046

23.241

22.019

21.744

21.357

26.138

23.239

21.957

24.575

23.403

Vitaly Petrov

25.109

24.852

21.993

21.561

22.609

28.856

23.981

21.459

24.526

21.011

23.172

Rubens Barrichello

29.269

28.74

21.595

22.424

23.112

25.757

24.029

21.237

24.908

24.514

Pastor Maldonado

24.281

22.754

22.79

25.947

25.502

21.532

24.793

21.329

22.666

Adrian Sutil

24.925

22.298

23.585

21.246

21.423

26.458

25.869

20.666

25.685

20.859

21.448

Paul di Resta

24.598

23.056

21.604

20.999

20.256

39.807

24.746

20.818

34.458

23.106

21.333

Kamui Kobayashi

24.128

23.361

21.896

22.577

22.166

28.642

24.153

22.019

28.448

21.075

22.612

Sergio Perez

23.438

23.597

24.572

24.061

22.188

21.939

25.503

24.446

21.234

Sebastien Buemi

24.221

25.36

22.887

21.976

22.127

25.388

24.782

20.925

25.45

24.128

21.39

Jaime Alguersuari

25.903

23.236

22.419

22.114

21.444

26.729

24.749

21.247

24.407

21.376

22.544

Heikki Kovalainen

24.865

26.21

22.188

22.534

21.631

26.078

44.037

22.333

21.632

21.998

Jarno Trulli

24.874

25.516

22.645

22.716

22.363

25.908

42.643

22.729

23.118

Narain Karthikeyan

26.049

25.596

24.53

36.053

29.328

26.255

Vitantonio Liuzzi

31.064

23.983

37.493

23.157

28.298

31.792

23.153

26.074

22.048

23.888

Timo Glock

24.523

26.139

21.849

26.827

24.752

21.965

25.188

21.752

21.255

Jerome dAmbrosio

25.853

25.334

22.852

23.808

22.622

26.835

27.502

22.097

27.085

22.175

29.643

Pedro de la Rosa

27.164

Daniel Ricciardo

26.407

23.186

22.686

Karun Chandhok

25.556

Lewis Hamilton had two of the three quickest stops in China

A quick pit stop is great but it’s not much use if a team can only do it once in ten attempts. A crack pit crew need to match their speed with consistency – and here Red Bull are also on top form.

Similarly McLaren turn around Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button’s cars in more or less the same amount of time each weekend.

Ferrari have been less consistent. Felipe Massa has had some particularly bad pit stops, though the effect of those has sometimes been heightened by poor in- and out-laps, particularly in Hungary.

On the face of it, Nico Rosberg appears to have had quicker pit stops than Michael Schumacher. But Schumacher has had to change his front wing in several races this year due to damage.

How teams are sharpening up their pit stops

Since in-race refuelling was banned at the end of 2009, the speed of a pit stop has been determined solely by how quickly the crew can get the old tyres off and the new ones on.

A slow pit stop can have obvious consequences. A clear recent example being Massa leading Sebastian Vettel into the pits on the last lap at the Nurburgring, then following him out after a fumbled stop.

Teams have been experimenting with different approaches to make their pit stops quicker and more consistent.

Teams use boards to help their drivers be more accurate

The use of high-visibility boards to help drivers stop on their marks with greater accuracy is widespread. Red Bull took the concept a step further, using lasers to help Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel position their cars perfectly.

A further example of Red Bull’s attention to detail was evident at Silverstone. In the damp conditions before the start the team used air blowers to dry the surface in their pit box.

Mercedes have used techniques borrowed from their DTM team to guard against lost wheel nuts – see the video above for more.

Some teams have even adjusted the rigging above the cars to ensure maximum air pressure is being driven to the guns the mechanics use to remove and replace the wheels.

The new tyre compounds used in F1 may have made overtaking on the track easier, but it hasn’t relieved the pressure on the pit crews. With up to four pit stops in dry races instead of one, they’re busier and more important to a driver’s performance than ever before.

Notes on the analysis

The data used is the FIA’s statistics on time spent in the pit lane for each pit stop. A complete list of stationary times for every pit stop is not available.

Timo Glock’s average pit stop time for the Australian Grand Prix was ignored as he spent almost nine minutes in the garage at one point.

35 comments on Red Bull fastest in the pits but Ferrari are catching them

Very interesting. I always thought Mercedes were the fastest in the pits. It shows how RBR drivers have had the equipment to make for the pits without failing. Although the race they did fail it probably cost Vettel the race. Mclaren’s pit stops aren’t the fastest, but they consistently seem to get the job done.

Well, as with everything in life, people need a motivation to do well. The teams try to engineer their pitstops as much as the cars but within the limits there is much room. One major motivation is racing for position, another can be incentives and yet another can be Ross Brawn standing across the track with a stopwatch, judging how well you are doing. He is the only one I know who actually does that but it seems to work.

Agree with last point but ferrari coming on strong second half of season but red bull dominating no thanks to MW, Alonso can still be F1 champion ahead of Vettel if he has the right set up for the rest of the season

interesting to see though that almost everyone one of Vettels average pitstops are quicker than Webbers bar silverstone where he had that wheelnut problem (although so did Webber in that race, just cost less time)

I think credit should be given to Virgin Racing…one of the newer teams that has only been in F1 for 2 years and they look to be on the whole second quickest at pit stops. Will do them good in the future if they find any extra speed

The second graph shows how most drivers had below-average pit stops at Monaco.
HRT should really improve, they’re always way back, whilts Lotus and Virgin occasionally challenge higher teams in the stops.

Of course you could choose to notice that in the last few races they have been remarkably quicker…. In the last 3-4 HRT have been competitive with Virgin and Lotus. Which is what they should try and aim for.

I do hope that guy is okay. Apparently his head injuries were quite serious. I’ve asked a few times over the winter and this year if anyone knows if he was okay in the end, but no one seems to have any information. I assume he is.

This is an unrelated note, but looking at the race video on F1.com for Hungary I can’t help but make the comment, once again, that Massa is completely useless on a wet track, as has been well documented over the years. You would expect an experienced driver like him to at least not spin out of the track ***every time*** it is wet. This is unbelievable.

You would think that HRT would make it’s best effort in all those little things that don’t require a massive budget. I guess it has to do with the negative emotional inertia of dragging along a very slow car. But it can work the other way around, (a great challenge in the cusp of auto-sport) and one wonders if a fast pitstop and winning attitude would translate to places up the grid.